Porn Actor Retests Negative for HIV, Production Gets the Green Light

A weeklong shutdown of Los Angeles' billion-dollar porn industry can now be lifted because the unnamed adult film performer who previously tested positive for HIV, has retested negative, according to a porn industry trade group.

The Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based national trade organization to the adult entertainment industry, has recommended that the moratorium on filming be lifted because the first test looks as if it was a false positive.

After discussion with our medical expert, he has advised that it would be appropriate for production to resume and the focus of attention [be] brought to those who had worked with the performer, Diane Duke, the group's executive director, said in a statement. That group is already receiving care.

But industry critics say recent episode highlights some of the problems with self-regulation.

Testing is not a substitute for condom use, and it never will be, Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, has said.No test can detect HIV from the moment of infection. There will always be a window period.

This window might not reflect recent infection.

They are pushing for a ballot initiative that would open studios to Los Angeles city inspections and require them to use condoms in films.

But the foundation's push has gotten strong resistance from the industry.

If the market would accept condom-positive movies, that's what we would all be making, Christian Mann, general manager of Evil Angel Productions and unpaid Free Speech Coalition board member, has told the media when the database launched. The fact is consumers don't want that.

Mann has said the market will always trump regulation.

If you make it so California-based productions cannot compete in the market, you'll just drive production out of the state, Mann said.

The performer's name, age and gender haven't been released.

The performer got the initial positive results at a Florida testing facility that Duke said seems to not have procedures in place for testing first- and second-generation partners or for follow-up care.

On Aug. 29, production companies in Los Angeles were notified of the test outcome. They voluntarily held off on filming.

Those who had been in scenes with the performer were contacted and urged to get tested.

Subsequent test for the performer was administered by the Adult Performer Health and Safety Services, run by the Free Speech Coalition and recently launched a database that will allow porn industry agents and producers access to results from testing facilities, according to Los Angeles Times.

Industry self-regulation and best practices are alive and well in the adult entertainment industry, Duke told the Times.

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